This week in Hoosier History, June 4 – 10

1865 – The first city election was held in South Bend. With 543 votes cast, William G. George was elected mayor. The city had been incorporated just two weeks before.

1888 – The Indianapolis Propylaeum, a literary and social club for women, was founded by a group led by May Wright Sewall, Mary Walcott, Harriet McIntire Foster and Carrie F. Milligan. Since the early 1920s, the organization had had its home in the former Schmidt Mansion on North Delaware Street.

1892 – Benjamin Harrison became the first President to attend a major league baseball game while in office. In the 11-inning game, the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Washington Senators by the score of 7-4.

1918 – Charles Warren Fairbanks died at his home in Indianapolis. He had served as United States Senator from Indiana and Vice President under Theodore Roosevelt. His body lay in state in the rotunda of the Indiana Statehouse.

1939 – In honor of Dairy Month, a cow-milking contest was held on the south steps of the Indiana Statehouse. Dr. Herman Morgan, of the Board of Health, won the contest, producing five and a half pounds of milk. Lieutenant Governor Henry Schricker was second with five pounds, and Governor M. Clifford Townsend came in third with three pounds. Virginia Armstrong from Shortridge High School was crowned Dairy Queen.

2013 – The Indiana Statehouse Tour Office held a rededication ceremony for the bust of Colonel Richard Owen. First dedicated a century earlier, the sculpture was a gift from Confederate soldiers in gratitude for Owen’s courtesy and kindness while serving as Commandant of Camp Morton, the Civil War prison camp in Indianapolis. Secretary of State Connie Lawson spoke at the rededication ceremony, which included some of Owen’s descendants from New Harmony, Ind.